It was Friday and the day was hot and humid with just ten minutes left before the lunch bell and it seemed all the eyes in the world were focused on Errol as he stood in front of all the students in his class with his head hung low. However the eyes which haunted him the most were not those of his teacher who was carefully revealing his most recent secret, but his mother’s who was watching intently. 

            In the past week, many students had been crying for loss of money from their bags and desks and the latest victim was Miss Nelson, the form teacher.    On Monday, teacher had left the classroom for some time and Peter Jones thought it was a good opportunity to sneak out to visit the lavatory. As soon as the teacher left the room, everyone became distracted and noisy. Errol had noticed Peter putting a ten dollar bill into his bag which was now resting on the floor next to him. He thought of the grater cakes Miss Inez was selling by the fence. He loved them so much and knew it would soon be lunch time.   Being he was from a poor family he and his brother would received only two dollars each from his mother and a grater cake cost two dollars and fifty cents. Errol moved closer to the bag with an unconcerned look on his face. Soon it was done and it seemed as though it was no big deal.

By the time it was Thursday, four students had already complained to the teacher while she noticed how Errol was abundant in confectionary, snowball, fudge and his favourite, grater cakes. None of the students suspected Errol however,  as he was quiet and unassuming and they all knew Donald deCat who was notorious for stealing mangoes, guavas, oranges and other fruits from people’s properties in his walk to and from school and were quite sure he was the culprit. It was now two forty five PM and in came the principal Miss. Billings holding out to Miss Nelson, what clearly could be seen by everyone to be a ten dollar bill. She quickly took it and placed it in her hand bag which was sitting on her table, but she had hardly done so before the principal called to her.

“Miss Nelson, may I see you for a moment in my office?”

“Yes Miss Billings”   she replied.

She admonished the students to be quiet and orderly, promising to be back as quickly as possible. The admonition seemed futile, because as soon as she left the classroom it was as a bear’s encounter with a bee hive. Errol had noticed that she did not make much effort to bury the money deep into the bag and as the boys threw paper planes and balls across the room and move around to reclaim them, Errol moved closer to his prize with no one noticing him. Before long he was back in his seat and only a moment before Miss Nelson re-entered the classroom.

            “Back to your seat everyone of you”. She shouted.  Soon all the buzzing and rattling of chairs became dead silence. School was dismissed shortly after and Errol made his way home thinking of the things he would buy with the ten dollars.

            Paul Errol’s bigger brother reached home just under a minute before him and handed the letter the principal had given him to his mother. He told no one about the letter fearing, for he wondered if he himself had committed an offence. He noticed his mother said nothing about it and soon he had forgotten all about it with the help of evening chores and other activities. 

            Thank God it was Friday and Errol was early at school with nothing else on his mind but the sweetness of grater cakes.   He was suddenly awakened out of his dream by the presence of his mother at the door, who was eagerly invited in by Miss Nelson. 

            “Good morning boys and girls” she said politely,

            “Good morning Miss” the students all answered in a chorus. All this time Errol became ill at ease and it got worse when Miss Nelson asked him to come to the front of the class. This he did with quivery steps towards the big table.

            “Errol, I would like you to empty your pockets and put everything on the table” Miss Nelson said in a calm voice. He slowly began first to remove the contents of his shirt pocket then to the pants leaving the pocket with the ten dollars for last hoping they would think he had done that one already.

“That one too” his mother said as he paused at the last one. As he slowly pulled out the note with tears rolling down his cheek for the first time he recognised that it was marked with Miss Nelson’s signature.

He now slowly lifted his head as he looked above the class with a quick turn to his mother he said,

His mother looked him straight in the face and said,

“Have you told me all that you should have told me”?